I. General Information
School Name: Maquinna Elementary School
School District: SD#70 Pacific Rim
Inquiry Team Members: Sheena Falconer: sfalconer@sd70.bc.ca
Diana Olson: dolson1@sd70.bc.ca
Tannis Seredick: tseredick@sd70.bc.ca
Alex Tom: atom@sd70.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: sfalconer@sd70.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Not applicable
Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation)
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Creating joyful and engaging opportunities for our school community to connect with Nuu-chah-nulth culture to create deeper understanding.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning: We asked Grade 4 and 7 students in two classes the key questions. We also asked individual students. We learned that our students wanted to have deeper connections with nature and culture. They strongly desired the opportunity to come together as a school and be able to eat together in an outdoor picnic and enjoy activities together as a means of building relationships with one another. They also expressed the desire to have more culture and language embedded into the school community. We used the First People’s Principles of Learning through honouring the role of Indigenous knowledge, generational understanding, and recognizing that time and patience are important.
Focus: After listening to the voices of our students, we thought we could engage in three different ways. We hoped to increase Nuu-chah-nulth language into our community in a fun and engaging way. We came up with the Nuu-chah-nulth Word of the Week. Students would announce a Nuu-chah-Nulth word in Monday announcements and the student body would attempt to come up with the meaning of the word, through discussion, educator support, and sometimes clues that were placed throughout the school. Students who came up with the correct meaning were asked to say the word in Nuu-chah-nulth and provide the meaning. This allowed them to participate in a weekly draw for prizes. We hoped this activity would help to integrate Nuu-chah-nulth language into the school in a positive way.
Secondly, as our school is located near a network of trails, we thought we could incorporate the desire for more nature by making Nuu-chah-nulth plant identification cards throughout the trail system.
Lastly, we thought we could incorporate the students’ desire for an outdoor picnic with National Indigenous Day. This would allow us to create a sense of belonging while embedding culture into the school community. We wanted to create a feeling of connectedness for our learners.
Hunch: Our hunch was that if we started creating joyful and fun ways to integrate Nuu-chah-nulth culture into the school community, students and educators would enjoy participating and lead to more culture being embedded into the school.
New Professional Learning: We focused on learning about the Spirals of Inquiry for our Professional Learning. We used the Leading Through Spirals of Inquiry: For Equity and Quality (2022) and The Spiral Playbook (2017) to learn how to use the Spirals of Inquiry process. This was new to us and we spent time understanding the process. It was a different process than most of us had used before, and we found it informative and interesting to be part of something that was so responsive to student voice. We also found the learning bursts very helpful. It was good to connect with our district team and receive their support as we worked through this new way of thinking.
Taking Action: We focused on three strategies: Nuu-chah-nulth Word of the Week, Trail Signage, and a National Indigenous Day Feast.
1. Nuu-chah-nulth Word of the Week: each week we came up with a week (usually one that had some significance for that week, ie spring, end of school) and a student volunteer would give the word of the week out over our Monday morning announcements. One of our team members would then share the word with the teachers, letting them know how to pronounce it, and the meaning. We would also put visual clues around the school. At recess and lunch recess, students would find one of our two team members and tell us the meaning of the word. They would also be asked to pronounce the word. Participating students had their names placed in a draw and each week three students would receive a small prize. We found that 130 students participated and most of them participated each and every week. At the end of the year, we realized that due to the number of students participating, some of them had participated every time and had never received a prize, so we offered prizes to everyone who had participated regularly. The students really enjoyed this activity and would run toward us every Monday to let us know they knew the word. We hope to both continue on and expand on this strategy next year to reach more students.
2. Trail signage: We had hoped to put Nuu-chah-nulth plant identification markers and signposts in the trails near our school, but ran into difficulties early as it wasn’t our property and there were a number of steps that need to occur prior to putting up signage in that area. We will continue to work on this project, but it will be much more involved than putting up signs, as it will involve other agencies.
3. National Indigenous Day Feast – this strategy was a great success. The feast was a whole school activity. We invited families and community members to our school for National Indigenous Day to take part in a feast and cultural activities. We started with an opening ceremony with a Nuu-chah-nulth guest speaker who involved the students in learning a new Nuu-chah-nulth song. We prepared and served salmon, bannock, salads, and desserts for the families. We had 41 student volunteers from Grades 5, 6, and 7 who helped out with activities. The activities that we offered included a game called Stealing Sticks, basketball, Lahal, drumming circle, Elder’s storytelling, Metis dot art, Metis weaving, Shrink wrap art, and stencil painting (local Nuu-chah-nulth stencils). Elders and community members supported this activity through providing knowledge and understanding, as well as ensuring we followed correct protocols. We closed the event by all coming together to sing our district song, that was gifted to us by Aaron Watts. The students and staff were very pleased with the event and it will become an annual event at our school. In the future, we will be able to create more detailed and better activities and also showcase school culture in a much better way.
Checking: In terms of the Nuu-chah-nulth Word of the Week, we felt that we could have provided more information to educators to help them feel comfortable pronouncing the Nuu-chah-nulth words, so we hope to incorporate that into next year. The feast was definitely an example of Spiral of Inquiry in action! We were acting on the voices of our students in terms of creating this type of event, and acting on a hunch that it would help create that feeling of connection that the students were desiring. The students said they really enjoyed the day and have asked to become more involved in the future by showcasing their culture in different ways, for example, leading Lahal games, singing and dancing. Students are already planning for next year. We intend to support this in the upcoming year by starting earlier so we can ensure that all the correct protocols are followed. Staff have also expressed an interest in having their classes participate through sharing Nuu-chah-nulth learning. We noticed that a number of Indigenous families attended the event, and we hope to expand upon this in the future. It was a great learning experience for everyone involved, and there are many complexities that can be explored in upcoming years.
Reflections/Advice: We learned about the value of learning how to utilize Spirals of Inquiry and the effectiveness of this approach. We learned that there is a great desire within our students to celebrate their culture in meaningful ways that provide a sense of belonging and connection. We plan to continue with all three strategies in the upcoming year. The feast was a big undertaking for our school, but it was so worth it!